Student Commission, YCL-LJC
August, 2014
Federal and Provincial Governments and big business want people to think that education is a privilege. A majority of students know better, and believe education is a right.
Provincial governments throughout Canada are working to privatize universities and colleges by reducing public funding, increasing tuition fees, and increasing the influence of big business. Some university institutions are even implementing “Program Prioritization Processes”, or PPP’s, which attack Liberal Arts and Social Science programs. In some cases these programs were won by student struggles in the 1960’s and 1970’s when progressive students demanded degrees in women’s studies, Indigenous studies, labour studies, and more.
In Ontario, the provincial government is pushing differentiation and encouraging PPP’s, which means further privatization. This places a focus on revenue generating programs, and the slashing of programs that are deemed not effective enough at creating workers for the capitalist economy.
But as attacks increase, students are fighting back at the local level! The work of “mobilization committees”, campus-coalitions and similar formations on campuses across Canada is inspiring. The Young Communist League encourages more campus-based coalitions, with the basis of unity that education is a social good, not a private good, to pop up Canada wide. They are an effective way to rally students against austerity measures.
However, campuses fighting back along with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSE) need to work together under a program of escalating action, from days of actions, to student strikes!
Canada’s flawed constitution makes education a provincial issue. The right to free, accessible, fully-public, and quality education should be enshrined in our constitution. A demand like this makes Canada wide unity on education issues essential. It’s time for more militant student unions, a much more active CFS, and unity between Quebec, Indigenous communities, and English speaking Canada (while respecting national autonomy) to fight for this demand.
One positive development is that the CFS-Ontario has just decided at their General Meeting in August to organize a week of action in March of 2015. This is where various locals of the CFS will coordinate actions together, bringing more students into the movement, and demanding an end to tuition hikes. The YCL-LJC encourages student groups from across Canada to join in on this week of action.
At the People’s Social Forum, we are calling for an Action Caucus of student groups within the CFS and outside the CFS, which are not hostile to student unity, believe education should be free as a social good, and are calling for an escalating action plan. First steps for the Action Caucus will be to promote the March week of action and ensure this week is a positive development for the student movement by making it stronger through mobilization.
The Young Communist League stands with students in their demand for education to be a right. We are committed to further the interests of students building student unity and militancy, and we struggle for socialism, because it’s the only genuine alternative to the current capitalist system.
Join mobilization committees and campaign efforts at your local campuses to help create a student movement that can fight-back and win! Join the Young Communist League to strengthen the youth and student movement and fight for socialism!